Dr. Ernest Pratt
Department: Education
What type of interesting features do you incorporate into your classes?
As a teacher educator, I strongly believe that our teacher candidates should be prepared to function in a complex and diverse world after graduating from Mount Union College. Our world has become so interdependent that it is imperative that future teachers are exposed to current research and issues impacting education nationally as well as internationally. Educators should be current on research and issues and how our profession is being affected by this research and these issues.
To this end, I incorporate what I call “In Education News” at the beginning of each of my general education classes –ED 150W, Foundations of Education and AE 405W, Advanced Techniques of Instructional Management. During each class meeting, I will bring a news item on an educational research or current issue impacting education for discussion. The discussion is usually scheduled to last between five to 10 minutes. But depending on the research or issue, we may spend more time on the discussion. Over the years, teacher candidates have found these discussions to be very informative and educational, as they exposed to current research and issues in education. In addition, teacher candidates are also assigned days on which they are required to bring to class an educational news item to class for discussion. This requirement enables them to read outside of the assigned text for the class.
In my ME 320, Teaching Mathematics in the Middle School class, teacher candidates are assigned e-pals from Prairie View A&M University (a historically black university) in Prairie View, Texas. This project exposes our teacher candidates to teacher candidates at another university, who may be different from them and whose life experiences and culture may be different from them. Each teacher candidate in my class is assigned an e-pal, who is a teacher candidate at Prairie View, pursuing a similar licensure. They are required to communicate through e-mail during the semester.
Teacher candidates in the two classes, on two diverse campuses, in two states, hundreds of miles away, are given the same assignment that looks at diversity at the schools at which they would be doing their field experiences. They are to share their experiences at their assigned schools and any other information that they may consider relevant with their e-pals. At the end of the semester, the teacher candidates are required to do a power point presentation of the results of their assignment to our class. They are also required to turn in hard copies of the email correspondence.
In your opinion, how is Mount Union College unique from other small liberal arts colleges?
I think Mount Union College offers a unique curriculum that provides students with the liberal arts education and at the same time provides opportunities for those who may choose to go the professional route such as education, or the pre-professional route such as pre-medicine or pre-law.
How do Mount Union students benefit from attending a small school as opposed to larger school?
I think the number one benefit that Mount Union students get from attending this school as opposed to attending a larger school, is the small class sizes. Because of the smallness of the classes, professors usually know the students by name and they are easily accessible to the students. Most of the classes are being taught by professors, which may not always be the case at larger universities.
Have you done any interesting research or developed any interesting courses at Mount Union? If so, explain.
Two years ago I co-authored an article titled The Importance of good Pedagogy: Reflections of an Early Childhood Teacher Candidate together with one of my teacher candidates. The article was published in the journal, Focus on Teacher Education. The teacher candidate took the CE 320, Teaching Mathematics to Young Children class for honors credit and we agreed that for her to get honors credit, I will help her write an article for publication, based on her experience using the Teacher Work Sample Methodology during her field experience for the class.
What kind of opportunities do Mount union students have after graduating from college?
I think most students graduating from Mount Union have opportunities for being employed, because employers usually come to conduct interviews on campus. For those who choose to continue on to graduate school, they usually have very good chances for being accepted into programs of their choice.
In what activities do you participate in your spare time?
I am on the Board of Trustees of the Interfaith Child Development Center in Alliance and I like to spend my free time with my family. We like to travel mostly in the summers.